Leafs Acquire Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andy Rogers & a 4th in 2009

Brian Burke takes on salary in order to replace the Leafs‘ lost 4th rounder. He also adds a 6’5, 210 pound blue-liner in Andy Rogers who is a former 30th overall pick. Rogers’ career to date has been maligned by injuries, but there’s still hope that Rogers could become a solid depth d-man down the road.

Jamie Heward and Olaf Kolzig are both out indefinitely with injuries at the moment.

The contracts of Kolzig (2.5M) and Jamie Heward (475K) expire at season’s end. By taking on Kolzig and Heward’s salary, the Leafs replace the lost fourth rounder in ’09 and add an intriguing, if long-shot, prospect. Tampa Bay were not facing cap contraints but there’s been plenty of talk of financial issues troubling owners Len Barrie and Oren Koules.

This essentially boils down to spending in the neighbourhood of $500K for a 4th round draft pick.

On the whole, the Leafs replace their relinquished 2nd and 4th round picks as well as add an additional 2nd rounder. The conditional pick included in the Antropov deal will be determinate upon the Rangers’ success in the playoffs, according to Pierre Lebrun.

Alec Brownscombe is the founder of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He was also the editor of the 2009-12 Maple Leafs Annuals. You can contact him at [email protected]